Bug Squad

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The Bug Squad blog, by Kathy Keatley Garvey of the University of California, Davis, is a daily (Monday-Friday) blog launched Aug. 6, 2008. It is about the wonderful world of insects and the entomologists who study them. Blog posts are archived at https://my.ucanr.edu/blogs/bugsquad/index.cfm. The story behind "The Sting" is here: https://my.ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=7735.

Hanna Briggs, a UC Davis transfer student, holds a sample card showing how glitter mimics insects. She is an intern in the laboratory of arachnologist Jason Bond, the Schlinger Endowed Chair, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and associate dean, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

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Bohart Museum of Entomology: All That Glitters Is Not Gold...

September 19, 2023

All that glitters is not gold...think insects! When the Bohart Museum of Entomology hosts an open house on "Household Vampires" from 1 to 4 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 23, activities will take place both inside and outside.

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A western yellowjacket, Vespula pensylvanica, peers at the photographer. It is on a Myoporum at Bodega Bay. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Portrait of a Yellowjacket

September 18, 2023

Who takes images of yellowjackets? What, nobody? I don't usually photograph yellowjackets because (1) I prefer to take images of their cousins, the honey bees and (2) yellowjackets are always moving. By the time I observe one, and raise the camera, the insect is long gone.

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UC Davis Chancellor Gary May congratulates the California Master Beekeeper Program. With him are co-program managers Wendy Mather and Kian Nikzad. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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A Tip of the Bee Veil to the California Master Beekeeper Program

September 15, 2023

If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a colony of honey bees to show us how to divide the labor and work well together. And if you're part of the UC Davis-based California Master Beekeeper Program (CAMBP), it takes a lot of worker bees from all facets to succeed.

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A monarch butterfly nectars on a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia rotundifola) in a Vacaville pollinator garden on Sept. 3, 2023. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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Monarchs on the Move

September 14, 2023

For the past 13 days, monarchs have fluttered in and out of our Vacaville garden, nectaring on the Tithonia and zinnia. They are a beautiful sight.

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Aedes aegypti, the yellow fever mosquito. (Photo courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

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Household Vampires Want Your Blood

September 13, 2023

What do you think of when someone mentions "household vampires?" Fleas? Ticks? Bed bugs? Mosquitoes? Yes! The Bohart Museum of Entomology will host an open house, themed "Household Vampires," from 1 to 4 p.m., Saturday, Sept.

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